In Sickness and in Health
by Natalie Elizabeth
Summary: Set Mid season 3. Gina is out but Josh is still in.  Beckett is sick and there is only one person she can truly depend on. Oneshot. Fluff piece written while i was sick


This story was unfortunately inspired by me being sick and my husband being not so good at taking care of me. He was reluctant to take me to the doctors as there are sick people there. (insert Beckett eye roll here)

Set: Mid season 3. Gina and castle not together but Josh is in the picture

In Sickness and in Health

By

Natalie Elizabeth

Beckett opened her eyes and immediately clutched her head. Oh god the pain. She sat up and groaned again. If she didn't know any better she would think she had a hangover. Last night on her way home her head had started to hurt, she thought it unusual as she wasn't one to get headaches, unless they were Castle induced. Beckett looked at her clock on her bedside table and groaned. If she didn't hurry she was going to b late for work. Pulling back the covers Beckett swung her legs out of bed and stood up, and promptly slid to the ground. She was weak, very week.

"Oh this is just great" Beckett frowned at the sound of her own voice.

Her nose wasn't stuffy but it sure sounded like it was. Now that she thought about it her throat was a little sore only to become a lot sore when she swallowed, and did her right ear just crackle. Great, just great. Wait didn't she just say that, oh man her head was cloudy and fuzzy and she wanted it to stop. Beckett leaned her head on the side of the bed. She needed to get off the floor and she needed a cup of tea. She normally despised teas unless she was sick, then it was her new best friend for soothing sore throats. Her mother used to make her black tea with honey and when her throat was a little better toast with butter. Oh god, that's what she needed, someone to take care of her, but first she needed to take care of a few things.

Beckett reached for her cell on the bedside table and scrolled until she found the number she needed.

"Moring Detective. What can I do for you?'

"Hey Captain."

"Hey Beckett you sound terrible."

"Thank you."

"I am guessing your calling because you won't be coming in today."

"Yeah. If that's ok."

"Of course, take all the time you need."

"Thanks."

"And Beckett."

"Yeah Captain."

"Go see a doctor."

Beckett sighed. "It's just a head cold."

"Dont argue with me."

"Alright I'll go."

Beckett ended the call and let her head collapse against the bed again. Rolling over Beckett pulled herself up and crawled into back into bed. Beckett whimpered, she was sick. She couldn't help but whimper like a puppy. Picking up her phone again Beckett sent off a quick text. She threw the phone on the bed next to her before pulling the covers up and snuggling deeply into her bed. Becektt felt like her eyes had only been shut for a minute when she heard a loud knocking on her door. Groaning Beckett threw back the covers and slowly made her way over to the door. When she got to the door she stopped to catch her breath, she felt like she was going to fall straight to the floor. Unlocking the door, Beckett smiled.

"Josh, hi."

She leaned against the door frame and took a deep breath. Since when did talking became to tiring.

"Kate you look terrible" she frowned as he took a step back.

"I'm sick." She whimpered.

"So why did you text me to come over?"

"I knew you weren't working until later, I thought you could take care of me. I don't feel well." She couldn't help but whine, she hated being sick and vulnerable and all oggie feeling.

Josh held up his hands and started to walk backwards.

"Whoa Kate, I don't do sick."

"You're a Doctor."

"Yeah which is why I can't afford to get sick, or pass any germs on to my patients."

"You work in a hospital. Surely you have antibodies to every disease known to man. Not to mention all I have is a common cold. I think. Look can you take me to see a doctor to please the Captain. I'm all hot and sweaty, I'd love to take a shower and have a cup of tea. I'd kill for a cup of tea"

Josh shook his head. "Look Kate, I am really sorry but I can't. I'll give you a call in a few days."

Days, days! Was he kidding her? What kind of guy was he if he couldn't even hang around for a common cold?

"You know what Josh, just forget it."

"What."

"Don't call."

"Kate you're not thinking straight."

"Yeah, because I am sick."

Beckett used all her strength to pull herself up from the door jam and slam the door in his face. Beckett staggered to her couch and promptly collapsed on it. She closed her eyes and smiled, sleep she needed sleep. She nearly screamed when she heard knocking on her door again, except her head hurt too much. She opened her eyes and looked at the clock, what the. Ahd she really been asleep for two hours. She heard the knocking again. Why why why. She didn't need this not today, she so didn't have the energy for this.

Beckett staggered to the door for the second time that day and pitied the person on the other side. Beckett opened the door and frowned, oh this was so not happening.

"Castle what you are doing here?"

"I heard you were sick"

Castle looked over her she looked terrible.

"Come on, if you're sick you should be back in bed."

He shooed her back with his hand and Beckett reluctantly stepped back, she was too tired to argue.

Castle shut the door and turned to see Beckett slowly shuffling towards her room. He took his jacket off and threw in on the couch before following her.

"Ok so what do you need?"

Beckett turned and saw Castle in her room.

"For you to be out of my room."

Castle shook his head.

"Come on Beckett I am serious what do you need?"

Beckett flopped on her bed and closed her eyes.

"Why are you here?"

"I told you, I heard you were sick. Esposito called and said not to come in."

"You heard I was sick and your first thought was to come over and be around the sick person."

"I thought you might need something. Medicine, chicken soup, whatever."

Beckett opened her eyes. "You came over here to take care of me." She practically whimpered.

"Yeah, now where is your gun, because I don't want you to take care of me, for thinking a cop needs to be looked after, if you know what I mean."

A smile broke out on her face.

"You're safe Castle."

Castle wiped his hand across his brow. "Phew, so can I get you anything."

"You seriously are going to take care of me." She couldn't believe it. He ehard she was sick and came straight over. To be in her bug infested house.

"Yes now what do you need."

"I need a shower and I need to go to a doctor."

"Well I can only help you with one of those things."

"Good" Beckett said standing up.

"I don't know where your doctor is."

Beckett hung her head down. "Castle."

"Alright, alright go have a shower. Just keep the door unlocked."

Beckett glared at him.

"Hey I broke your door down once and it hurt like hell. If you fall over in there, "

"Alright I get it I get it."

Beckett walked into the bathroom and closed the door. She thought for a second and then quietly opened it. Castle had a pair of jeans in his hand.

Oh that little creep he was going through her clothes.

She then saw him pick up her blouse and pants from yesterday. Oh. He was picking up her dirty laundry for her. That was kind of sweet, strange but sweet. Beckett closed the door again and threw a towel over her shower door. Pulling her pyjamas off took a lot longer than it ever had before. An eerie thought entered her mind. Castle had seen her in her monkey pyjamas, an even eerier thought entered her mind, he didn't say anything. She was too sick to ponder that thought. Right now she was about to take a shower with the door unlocked with Castle in the next room picking up her laundry. If her head didn't hurt before, it did now.

Castle took all of the clothes he had found strew around Becketts room and looked for a place to put them. He didn't see a basket anywhere so he walked over to her wardrobe and threw them on the floor and promptly shut the door. She could deal with that when she was feeling better. When he was sick he hated clutter around, he also hated old dirty sheets. He looked at Becketts bed. Her sheets didn't look dirty as such but they were quite wrinkled. Walking out of her room Castle soon found the linen cupboard and a pile of fresh clean sheets. He took a set out before returning to her room and began to strip her bed.

Beckett leaned against the shower wall. This was not good. She had hoped a shower would make her feel better. She was wrong. The hot water and the steam just made her feel even dizzier. Wasn't steam meant to be good for a sinus cold, at least that's what she thought she had anyway? Beckett turned off the water and took two wobbly steps. Oh god she was in trouble. Beckett leaned against the glass and weakly reached up for her towel. Dragging it down, she wrapped it around herself and did the worst thing possible.

"Castle. I need you."

"What?" she heard him yell through the door.

"I need you."

"Are you ok?"

"If I was ok would I be calling you?"

Beckett heard the door open.

"What's up?"

"I need help getting out of the shower."

"You sure you don't have your gun on you."

"Castle" she yelled then immediately regretted it, her head hurt bad she wanted it to go away.

She watched as the door opened and Castle appeared in front of her with his hand over his eyes. His fingers moved to reveal one of his eyes; he looked her up and down.

"Oh" he said removing his hand. "You're not naked."

"No, but I am about to fall down."

She felt Castles arm come around her, she leaned on it for support and stepped out of the shower. Feeling her feet come out from under her she wondered briefly if she had collapsed, she hadn't. Castle had scooped her up and was now carrying her into her room. She was going to protest when Castle gently placed her on her bed.

"Ok now did you want to go to doctor straight away?"

Beckett nodded. It was better to get it over and done with. If she was lucky she had something that could be fixed with medicine, but the way her day was going she doubted it.

"Do you want me to get your some clothes?"

She pointed to some drawers. Castle walked over to them and pulled out grey sweats. He placed them on the bed next to her.

"I'll leave you to it and go and organise a taxi."

"Castle put me down." Beckett tried to squirm in his arms but was exhausted. She had been squirming since Castle had picked her up the moment she took a step out of the taxi.

"The doctor said you needed to rest."

"And I will once I get into my place."

"And you will get there faster if I carry you."

Castle traversed the distance to Becketts apartment before finally putting her down. Beckett pulled out her keys and opened the door before screaming when Castle picked her up again. Castle carried her over the threshold before kicking the door closed with his foot.

"Bed or couch?"

Beckett lay limply in his arms.

"Bed."

Castle walked her over to her room and placed her gently on her bed for the second time that day. Beckett crawled under the covers and snuggled in deep. She rubbed her face against the pillow but then frowned, it felt weird. Beckett opened her eyes and looked at the pillow. It was different. She looked down at the sheets, they were different.

"Did you change my sheets?"

Castle nodded. "I thought they might make you feel better."

"That's just..." Weird, creepy, sweet. "Forget it. Thank you."

Castle looked at the woman lying in the bed. When Esposito had called to say Beckett was sick he had waited a whole of 2 seconds before racing over to see her. He figured she would just tell him to leave and he had been prepared for that. He had even been prepared for Dr Motorcycle boy to great him; or rather glare at him for turning up. The fact that Beckett had let him in meant she was desperate

"Castle if your staring at me while I sleep that's really creepy and I am sick so please don't."

Beckett gave off a few undistinguishable noises

"Did you want anything? Chicken soup, tea, pain killers, some of those cold and flu tablets?"

"You're going to make me chicken soup" she asked eyes still closed.

"I'm going to order it for you and then put in it a bowl to make it look like a made it for you."

Castle watched as she smiled briefly.

"Thanks Castle, its fine, thanks for coming over I just want to sleep now." She had done as the captain requested, she had gone to the doctor , she had even had a shower not that it made her feel much better. Although she would love a cup of tea she was too tired now.

Castle nodded. "Ok Beckett"

Becketts eyes fluttered open and she looked around her room. From her position she could see the diming light from outside her window. She sat up and was surprised to see she felt a little better. Spying the glass of water on her bedside table she grabbed it and drank heavily. Her stomach grumbled and Becketts shoulders sagged. She was hungry and there was a good chance her fridge and cupboards were bare. Pulling back the covers Beckett climbed out of the bed, maybe she had something worth eating. Becketts socked feet padded out of her room and stopped.

"Castle, what are you doing here."

Castle looked up from the book he was reading.

"Hey how are you feeling?"

"Confused, why are you here?"

"You were sick so I came over, I took you to the doctors, remember."

"Yeah, but I thought you left."

"I did"

She raised her eyebrow at him.

"I came back"

"Why, how?"

"I borrowed your keys"

"You stole my keys" she yelled. "Ouch" maybe she wasn't as better as she thought.

Castle jumped off the couch.

"Here sit down."

Beckett allowed herself to be escorted to her couch. She slumped onto it and took the blanket Castle offered her.

"Would you like something to eat?"

"You going to order that chicken soup"

"Well I was thinking tea with honey and toast with butter, but I can order chicken soup if you like."

Becketts head whipped around to look at him, which was another big mistake, ouch, ouch , ouch.

"How do you know about Tea and Toast?"

"I called your father."

Becketts eyes widened. "You called my father, what did you say to him?"

"I told him you were sick."

"Why?"

"Because he is your father and would want to know."

"It's just a head cold."

"So? He said he will give you a call tomorrow night to see how you are going and told me you like Tea and Toast. So, would you like some?"

Beckett wanted to be angry at him, she really did. He had called her father, yet she supposed he did it for the right reasons.

"It's nice of you to offer Castle but I don't have any bread, or tea for that matter."

"You didn't, you do now."

Beckett watched as Castle disappear behind the couch moments later she heard noises in her kitchen. Reaching for the TV remote Beckett flicked it on and turned the volume down. She stared at the moving pictures on the screen until Castle returned with a tray. Where did the tray come from? He placed it on her coffee table before handing her a mug. Beckett took a deep breath, the scent of honey bringing back memories of sitting on the couch with her mom at her parents places. Beckett blew on her hot tea as she watched Castle grab a mug of his own and a large dinner plate filled with toast before sitting at the other end of the couch. He placed the plate between them.

"Help yourself" he said before grabbing a piece for himself.

Beckett looked at the toast and then back up the man who had provided it.

"Don't you have anything better to do than to hang around a sick me all day."

"What's better than making sure my favourite detective is feeling ok?"

"Don't let Esposito hear you call me your favourite"

Castle smiled.

"Eat, then you can have some cold and flu tablets."

Beckett picked up the toast and munched on it. The man sitting next to her had given up his whole day to make sure he was ok. He risked getting sick, he had brought her food, called her dad, sat on her couch probably bored all day.

"Thanks for this Castle"

Castle looked at her and shrugged. "Hey it's no big deal."

Beckett took a long gulp of her tea.

"It is a big deal to me."

Castle looked at her, Becket never made a big deal out of anything, something was up.

"Care to explain?"

Beckett took another sip of her tea.

"I texted Josh to come over."

Castle leaned forward and put his mug on the coffee table.

"Oh, I should probably go then."

Castle stood up to leave but Beckett put her hand up to stop him.

"He's come and gone."

"Oh."

"Yeah, he didn't want to be around a sick person."

Castle frowned. "But he's a doctor."

Beckett nodded. "That's what I said."

"So he left you here on your own."

"Yep"

"What a dick" Castles eyes widened when he realised what he had just said. Sure he said plenty of things about Josh that were far worse than that but never in front of Beckett. "I'm sorry Beckett, I just meant."

"It's ok, you are right."

"I am. Can I get that in writing?"

Beckett playfully slapped him, before looking back at her tea.

"I broke up with him."

"You what?"

"I decided that if he won't even be here for me when I am sick, then how can I depend on him."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

Beckett sat there in silence drinking tea and eating toast, when she finished she placed her mug on the coffee table.

"Thanks for making today a little bit more bearable."

Castle smiled.

"No problems. I should probably go though. You probably want to get some more sleep anyway."

He stood up again and as much as she didn't want him to leave he was right, she was feeling tired. She hated being sick.

Beckett walked him to the door.

"If you need anything just give me a call ok."

Beckett nodded,

"You know if I wasn't sick I'd give you a kiss, you really helped me out today."

"I don't mind." He told her leaning his cheek towards her.

Beckett leaned towards him bringing her hand up to turn his head. She placed a quick kiss to his lips.

"Thanks."

Beckett gave him a quick smile before shutting the door leaving him standing there with his mouth hanging open.

Author Note: Hey so what did you think. I wrote this in my sick hazy state, while sitting on the couch with my tv on in the background, laptop in my lap, while my husband was asleep on the other. Not looking after me


End file.
